Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwritertag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1343152015-03-03T09:15:03-07:00TypePadBooks - Hey, Dude, We Read Differentlytag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c53ec53ef01bb07fbfff5970d2015-03-03T09:15:03-07:002015-03-03T09:15:03-07:00"Publishing conglomerates Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster are facing tough times this quarter as ebook sales fell and total profit dropped 5.6% at S&S and approximately 12% for RPH ... [There is also] the slow but sure shrinking...Jane Genova

"Publishing conglomerates Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster are facing tough times this quarter as ebook sales fell and total profit dropped 5.6% at S&S and approximately 12% for RPH ... [There is also] the slow but sure shrinking of the print market." - John Biggs, TechCrunch, March 3, 2015. Here is the article.

What publishers might not realize is that we read differently in a disruptive, digital age. Unlike little children who flock to the public library for story-time, we don't have the time for the "experience" of reading.

No longer is stress reduced by curling up with a good book and getting lost in that world. Instead we go to the gym and there we track our activities with some connected device.

In addition, we leverage books for their ideas, not for a complete read. Those are usually highlighted in the book reviews such as in The Economist. If we do actually get the book and click it on or crack it open it's to gallop through the Introduction to find out the tenets.

Yet, at the same time, books are still the price of entry for thought leaders. I receive calls all the time about ghostwriting a print or ebook. But in order to receive attention and show up okay in the rankings on Amazon.com, they have to be provocative, organized as a how-to and contain workbook exercises. Even memoirs have to provide takeaways.

Publishers who provide advances have to become more in-tune with why people read books. The next step is being more selective what they publish. That industry, just like the landline one, could become an anachronism.

Connected Devices - Just About Everyone In This City In Desert Uses One Or Moretag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c53ec53ef01b7c75834fc970b2015-03-03T08:55:13-07:002015-03-03T08:55:13-07:00This is the desert. Yet the pull force is not toward quenching thirst or seeking the shade. It's all about connected devices - smartphones, laptops and tablets. 24/7 Asians sit within the WiFi signal from the leasing office at our...Jane Genova

This is the desert.

Yet the pull force is not toward quenching thirst or seeking the shade. It's all about connected devices - smartphones, laptops and tablets.

24/7 Asians sit within the WiFi signal from the leasing office at our small residential complex. That's how they talk with their relatives in countries like China. Most use tablets, some use phones. Their language is tonal.

Because it's the desert, windows are open. Look in and the people are on laptops. One is the 80-year-old woman who lives more in a nursing than her own house. Her husband tells me she mostly plays games on the Internet.

The streets of this city, Tucson, Arizona, have no lights. So, walking them at night means turning on the small light in the iPhone. To get a jump on the A.M. trash, dumpster divers also go through the garbage bins with that source of light.

In the supermarket, all generations roam the aisles jabbering on the phone. Maybe they are asking those back at home what to buy. After all, there are flash sales.

What's palpable is that all these connections to devices limit in-person interaction in real time. The Asians parking themselves outside the leasing office never have made eye contact with me. When back from the nursing home, the woman has her husband tend to the social activities. And those with phones might as well be Martians. I wonder if there is something to click so they can step into their phones and enter another dimension.

When I relocated from New York Metro last April, I thought I was escaping connected devices. I wanted to return to the ethos of the old neighborhood. There had been lots of people there, too many in fact. Everyone was looking for a conversation, live and in-person. In the desert, to my surprise, I haven't found that, at least not yet.

Hillary Clinton's Latest Mess - What Would Ed Snowdon Say About All Thistag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c53ec53ef01bb07fbb993970d2015-03-02T23:50:36-07:002015-03-02T23:52:41-07:00"Hillary Rodham Clinton exclusively used a personal email account to conduct government business as secretary of state ... and may have violated federal requirements that officials' correspondence be retained as part of the agency's record." - Michael S. Schmidt, The...Jane Genova

"Hillary Rodham Clinton exclusively used a personal email account to conduct government business as secretary of state ... and may have violated federal requirements that officials' correspondence be retained as part of the agency's record." - Michael S. Schmidt, The New York Times, March 2, 2015. Here is the article.

The fact that Hillary Clinton has become the target of just about everything which could be investigated about her past demonstrates what a formidable politico she has mutated into. The Stop Hillary movement just won't stop.

That's why it would be difficult to discern from media reports if her use of personal email endangered the security of government communications and how much so. For this, the trustworthy expert to go to might just be Ed Snowdon. The documentary "Citizen Four" positions him as an objective observer of security measures. He can separate excessive scrutiny from what's necessary for national safety.

"Better Call Saul" - Millennials Should Have Jimmy's Drive tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c53ec53ef01b8d0e1330d970c2015-03-02T22:38:47-07:002015-03-02T22:39:48-07:00Half the college graduating Class 2014 have jobs, reports The Wall Street Journal. The other half need to follow the new series "Better Call Saul." There they will witness old-fashioned drive. It is leveraged by Jimmy to first survive, then...Jane Genova

The other half need to follow the new series "Better Call Saul." There they will witness old-fashioned drive. It is leveraged by Jimmy to first survive, then succeed. In the end, as we know from "Breaking Bad," Jimmy does make it big as Saul Goodman.

Tonight's episode focuses on the results of Jimmy's publicity stunt to bring in new business for his law firm. It was off-beat enough for the media to cover it. And also to attract the delusional and marginal.

One prospect wants to succeed from the U.S. To pay this attorney to assist him on that he offers Jimmy money he himself made. The other prospect invented a soft-porn crapper he named Tony the Toilet Buddy.

However, Jimmy doesn't give up. He does land some authentic business from elderly Mrs. Strauss who wants to arrange to will her Hummel figurines.

Amidst all this professional chaos, Jimmy also has to sort out his emotions about his once-brilliant, successful lawyer brother, Chuck. His wiring gets frayed over his psychosis about electric current. In this episode he assumes he can take the neighbor's newspaper, without her permission, leaving $5. The cops show up. They are not amused by his citing legal precedents to justify his actions.

Members of the Class of 2014 who are out there searching for work should take an audit of what Jimmy will do to make a buck. Perhaps human dignity is over-rated. So is cool. Now that I ditched all that, my communications boutique has taken off.

Lacey Spears - Mommy Blogging Has Its Dark Sidetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c53ec53ef01b7c757a887970b2015-03-02T14:12:23-07:002015-03-02T14:17:11-07:00[Lacey] Spears chronicled her sickly son's many illnesses - including his final one - on Facebook and a personal blog. In one Facebook post, she said [son] Garnett made 23 trips to the hospital in his first year." - Lee...Jane Genova

[Lacey] Spears chronicled her sickly son's many illnesses - including his final one - on Facebook and a personal blog. In one Facebook post, she said [son] Garnett made 23 trips to the hospital in his first year." - Lee Higgins, "Lacey Spears guilty of second-degree murder," in the Journal News, March 2, 2015. Here is the article.

Today, after a trial which lasted 14 days, the jury in Westchester County, New York convicted Lacey Spears of second-degree murder. The victim was her five-year old son Garnett.

The jury decided that she had deliberately introduced into the child's feeding what eventually totaled a fatal amount of sodium. Jury members had the option of returning a verdict of 1st-degree manslaughter but didn't. Their decision means a minimum of 15 years to life in prison or a maximum of 25 years to life. She will be sentenced April 8. Her legal team has not announced an appeal, as yet.

Mommy bloggers such as Spears had captured global attention with their conversational, candid and even funny postings on rearing children. It was a fresh approach to the challenge of parenting.

In this era of "helicopter moms" in the U.S., the market is huge for communications focused on parenting. For example, in The New York Times, Susan H. Greensburg's February 25, 2015 post on her college daughter's frantic hunt for an unpaid summer internship has attracted 155 comments.

One has to wonder then if among Spears' motivations to poison her son could have been boosting even the large readership mommy bloggers like herself have. That has been and always will be the dark side of the medium of blogging: Craving for attention, at any cost.

Those in the slammer will likely not treat Spears kindly. Crimes against children are usually framed among inmates as not in the realm of forgiveness.

Confessing Our Sins, Mortal & Venial, To Roman Catholic Priest - Emerging Trend For Disruptive Times? tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c53ec53ef01b8d0e0cd4a970c2015-03-02T11:23:04-07:002015-03-02T11:23:05-07:00"The priest said that I should start my general confession with my teenage years. I could 'format' it according to the Ten Commandments." I was shocked when a member of Generation X began sharing this experience with us. It was...Jane Genova

"The priest said that I should start my general confession with my teenage years. I could 'format' it according to the Ten Commandments."

I was shocked when a member of Generation X began sharing this experience with us. It was during the social part of a twice-monthly meeting of a crew of creatives.

The reason for my shock was this: I had also been considering "going to confession." I hadn't done that since the early 1970s when I had decided to chuck my Catholic faith. In fact, I had been looking into contacting an offbeat Catholic Church here in Tucson, Arizona.

With so much disruption in my career and in my personal life, I needed anchoring. Part of that had to be, at least for me, being "forgiven" by some kind of authority figure for the wrongs I had done other human beings. No, I didn't give a damn about commercial transgressions. So what if I didn't give my all in a client assignment for 30 ways Millennials can save money.

It has really eaten into my soul that there have been human beings whom I have treated without warmth and respect. The source of that indifference, I have a hunch, had been my preoccupation with networking primarily with the professionally successful, the pretty people and anyone under 39.

Yes, Father, I have sinned.

I might have a lot of company in seeking out peace of mind from such an ancient form of clearing away the wreckage of the past. "Going to confession" could become the new cool practice for those of us determined to become better human beings.

Thought Leaders Without Brandnamestag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c53ec53ef01b8d0e06c7a970c2015-03-01T22:00:11-07:002015-03-01T22:00:11-07:00They don't tweet TechCrunch Disrupt conferences. No one has invited them to give a TED Talk. And they don't publish opinion-editorials in The New York Times. Yet, even without brandnames, they are thought leaders. That is, they have the influence...Jane Genova

They don't tweet TechCrunch Disrupt conferences. No one has invited them to give a TED Talk. And they don't publish opinion-editorials in The New York Times.

Yet, even without brandnames, they are thought leaders. That is, they have the influence to change others' behavior. The power of ordinary people can be extraordinary.

One of these non-brandname thought leaders lives in my complex in Tucson, Arizona. Her take on whatever resonates. "X says," we say. Among behaviors she has changed is ranting. She taught us to simply ignore. That includes not going postal about the several religious fundamentalists in the complex.

For less cosmic issues we call on her on a one-to-one basis. Distraught, I confided how a client was driving me nuts. She cut to the chase: Does your instinct tell you to drop that client? That was the end of that story.

This phenomenon of the very ordinary thought leader isn't new. In the old neighborhood in cities, there was usually at least one. And it was a she. The parents went with questions if they should send their children to Catholic school and what to do about their husbands' drinking. Politicos did favors for her.

We kids hung near her door because there was always the chance she needed an errand run. She paid well. She had the money to do that because she was smart, much more so than our own mothers.

The media have anointed certain brandnames as the ones we should heed. But most of what they say doesn't touch our lives. As much as I admire the smarts and courage of Peter Thiel, his life doesn't intersect mine. Perhaps thought leaders with the most authentic reach, that is with Everyman and Everywoman, don't need media, not at all.

"Downton Abbey" - Hearts Softentag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c53ec53ef01b7c7572115970b2015-03-01T20:51:39-07:002015-03-01T20:51:39-07:00Ice Princess Lady Mary risks the family's reputation to visit Anna in prison. No, she doesn't conceal her name. And the family is able to get Anna out on bail until the trial. But we wonder if the loyalty to...Jane Genova

Ice Princess Lady Mary risks the family's reputation to visit Anna in prison. No, she doesn't conceal her name. And the family is able to get Anna out on bail until the trial.

But we wonder if the loyalty to this servant girl is misplaced. The police contend they have evidence that Anna offed Green which they haven't disclosed as yet.

Cora, who had a flirtation with the art expert, is authentically concerned about Robert. He has been having chest pains. He may be concealing the severity of his heart problem. But Cora is being very protective.

Can their marriage get on track again? After Cora survived influenza Robert ended his own flirtation with servant girl Jane. He and Cora attempted to rebuild their base of affection.

Perhaps Robert's health crisis is what allows him to accept that his daughter Lady Edith had a child out of wedlock. He knows all about it now. So does his son-in-law Tom. The only one who does not know who Marigold's mother is is Lady Mary.

Lady Edith also softens toward her family. She begs forgiveness from Robert. Until now she seemed to have such a chip on her shoulder when it came to her family.

This is the finale for the season. The next season of "Downton Abbey" will be filmed in England this spring. Rumor has it that will be the last of the series.

Next season we wonder if Anna will hang from the gallows, will the family be disgraced if it comes out about Marigold and will Robert die? We will miss the family until then.

Mad Monks - Spirituality's Dark Sidetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c53ec53ef01bb07facf92970d2015-03-01T17:20:06-07:002015-03-01T17:20:06-07:00Today, our little mindfulness group veered off into dishing the dirt. That included the mad monks we had encountered on the way to unbundling meditation from spirituality and religion. Now we were free of the vestiges of having to endure...Jane Genova

Today, our little mindfulness group veered off into dishing the dirt. That included the mad monks we had encountered on the way to unbundling meditation from spirituality and religion.

Now we were free of the vestiges of having to endure the smugness of the enlightened. But, obviously, we were still annoyed that we had put up with all that.

Among the mad monks I had run into was a guy addicted to multiple-year retreats. The next one he planned, and for that he would give up his job, was two years in a remote part of the Southwest.

But he was harmless. The pernicious kind were some of the female variety. Just as in ordinary life, these females intuitively knew exactly what to say or not say, the dirty look to give and the snub to deliver to make those not members of the in-crowd feel pretty bad. One was so off that the powers that be sent her back to her nun community outside the U.S. to remove some of the abrasion.

Of course, our little group laughed at these all-too-human foibles. But when we were suffering and were trying to slouch toward enlightenment the mad monks made the pain worse.

Takeaway: When hurting, be careful where you search for healing.

"My Executive Coach Said ..."tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c53ec53ef01b7c75697f6970b2015-02-28T21:33:02-07:002015-02-28T21:33:02-07:00The phrase that stops pests, makes bad bosses/clients behave and opens doors to fresh opportunity is: "My Executive Coach Said." In terms of power, it's right up there with the phrase pre-feminism: "My Husband Said." The source of this force...Jane Genova